There is an increasing tendancy towards the manufacture of timepieces, generally wristwatches, of increasingly thinner shape. It is therefore becoming increasingly necessary to make all of the components of such a timepiece of reduced thickness, yet to do this without a corresponding loss in mechanical strength or quality of the components. In the case of components of a timepiece dial, such as time indicating hands (in an "analog" type of timepiece) or a dial plate or masking plate (used in a digital timepiece or a combined analog/digital timepiece), the degree of mechanical strength required is quite low. However if such a component is made extremely thin, using conventional manufacturing methods, then a certain amount of warping, i.e. bending distortion, of the component will generally occur. This distortion is introduced, in the case of a component manufactured by a conventional electroforming method, as a result of the use of a number of superimposed metallic layers within the component, e.g. an electrically conducting base layer necessary in the electroforming process and one or more thicker layers of a metal such as copper formed thereon, constituting the main body of the component. The warping distortion will also generally be increased by any machining, such as grinding or milling, carried out on the electroformed layers to provide a finished surface on the component and to set the desired thickness thereof. The latter warping results from internal stresses produced within the electroformed layers by the machining process itself.
As a result of the warping described above, it has not been possible to manufacture timepiece dial components of extremely thin shape on a mass production basis hitherto, using conventional manufacturing methods, without the cost of manufacture being excessively high. There is therefore a requirement for a method of manufacturing timepiece dial components which are extremely thin, by a simple process which is suited to mass-production, and which will hold the degree of warping of the components to within predetermined narrow limits. Such a method of manufacture is provided by the method of the present invention, which enables timepiece hands, for example, to be manufactured to a thickness of 50 microns, with a degree of warping (measured at one end of the hand with respect to the opposite ends, as described hereinafter), which is within the range +30 microns (.mu.).